Yesterday, we lost an elder. Michael Sorkin was many things to many people over his long career: a dedicated teacher, the last of the great practitioner critics, and a tireless advocate for a more environmentally and socially just architectural reckoning.

May you rest in peace, Michael, and know that the generation that follows you will pick up the torch and carry on what you’ve left behind.

In the midst of our current global pandemic, we seek to bring designers and architects to support the fight to keep everyone safe. We’re dedicating resources to form a core COVID-19 Response Team, who will be available to help our partners on the front lines, and developing a set of guides that can serve as a resource to all.

The response team will leverage lessons learned from the last ten years of working in infectious disease settings, and will engage key thought leaders and partners in design and healthcare, as well as both the public and nonprofit sectors.

JUSTICE IS BEAUTY goes on sale on December 17.

Celebrating 10 years of work, our first monograph highlights the projects, people, and partnerships that have formed the backbone of MASS Design Group since our beginnings.

Consider making an investment in the next 10 years of MASS. If you donate $200 or more, we will send you an exclusive autographed copy of our monograph. 

The Gun Violence Memorial Project opened September 19 at the Chicago Architecture Biennial.

The exhibition features four houses built of 700 glass bricks, each house representing the average number of lives lost due to gun violence every week in America. Families who have lost a loved one due to gun violence contributed remembrance objects, which are placed within a glass brick, displaying the name, year of birth, and year of death of the person being honored.

For more information about the project, visit www.gunviolencememorialproject.org.

We need memorials that embrace truth.

The Equal Justice Initiative created a national lynching memorial as a sacred space for truth-telling and reflection about racial terror in America and its legacy.

“I believe we need to talk about the shame of slavery. We need to talk about the shadows that still haunt us.”
 —Bryan Stevenson, Founder and Executive Director of EJI 

Read more about the project.

Fringe Cities: Legacies of Renewal in the Small American City, opens at the Center for Architecture in NYC on Oct 2nd. 

The exhibition provides a snapshot into our ongoing investigation into the Fringe City, defined as an independently situated, small city that has been severely impacted by urban renewal. The exhibit takes a deep dive into four cities to understand local impact and hear from the organizations working today to address the legacies of this era of rapid, large-scale change.

The Museum for Equality contextualizes the Pulse tragedy and highlights the activism that can be inspired and nurtured in Orlando in the pursuit of a more just and equal society.

Half a mile down the street is the Pulse Memorial, honoring victims, survivors, and first responders of the Pulse tragedy.

The Pulse Memorial signals a sense of radical hope, honoring the victims, survivors, and first responders of the Pulse tragedy.

The memorial is a shroud of pillars around the nightclub, over which water rains down and the names stand on the chamfered edge of an elevated plinth. The memorial site includes a survivors garden and first responders forest, offering a space fo respite and reflection. Half a mile down the street is the Museum for Equality, focused on catalyzing action towards a more just and equal society.  

The National Design Awards were conceived by Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum to honor lasting achievement in American design. 

Read a statement from the MASS team.